Fantasy World Cup Preview Group G

Fantasy World Cup Preview Group G

GROUP G: USA, GHANA, PORTUGAL, GERMANY
Our World Cup previews continue at a pace and we would like to extend a very warm welcome and thank you to chins and bellies as he gives us his take on Group G, the teams involved, which players you should pick and who is likely to progress.

Some of you will have registered already but if not the site that we are using for this years game is Mcdonalds Fantasy World Cup, you can register here. You can register now and you can begin to pick your squad from June 8th ahead of the big kick-off on June 12th. We will publish the FF247 league codes as soon as the league option is open on there. In the meantime we encourage you to plan ahead and as such here’s Group G for you all…

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USA
Overview
Let me take you back to 2002. We’re in the Suwon World Cup Stadium in Korea. It’s hot, it’s sticky and USA has just beaten Portugal 3-2 in the World Cup group stages. The scorer of the winning goal? Landon Donovan. Now fast forward 12 years, and the USA all-time leading goal scorer (57 goals in 156 games) is leading his troops into battle once again. This will be a record equally 4th World Cup for Landon and a chance to add to the 3 world cup goals he already has on his CV. If USA are to upset the odds and progress from Group G, Landon will need to be on top of his game. What do you mean he’s not even in the squad?!
USA goes into the World Cup [apparently without Landon Donavan] as favourites to finish bottom of their group, and since qualifying they’ve not done much to change that opinion, or to justify their global ranking of 14th. (Lost 2-0 against Ukraine and threw away a 2 goal lead to draw against their neighbours Mexico.)
This year’s roster will include the biggest ever proportion of players from the USA’s very own Sunday league MLS (16 in the current squad vs just 4 in 2010.) What they lack in skill they should make up in fitness, given the world cup falls midway through the MLS regular season.

Fantasy player perspective
Haha. Yeah right! But seriously, given the strikers they’ll come up against, you probably want to steer clear of the defence.
As a long shot (If he plays), US veteran Fullback DaMarcus Beasley might be worth a punt given his tendency to bomb forward. He’s bagged 17 Goals for USA and is the only player in the squad to have scored (4 times) in the Champions league. He’s likely to be classified as a defender despite playing as a winger for his club side and could be a squad filler if he’s priced cheaply.
One certainty at the back is that Tim Howard will be protecting the ‘score-bag’, and should pick up a few save points at least.
From an attacking perspective, Dempsey (on fire for Seattle) should play most minutes in all 3 games and get involved in most attacks. Up front, despite playing for Sunderland Reserves, Jozy Altidore is expected to lead the line.

Fixtures
In the group phase alone, the U.S. team will travel almost 9,000 miles! (Not including the trip home shortly after their 3rd game). These distances are not actually that unusual for those playing in the MLS so this may give them some advantage over their jet lagged opponents.
If you do go with some US players, then it’s the first 2 games that offer the best chance for points. They open up their campaign against Ghana (although Ghana have beaten USA in each of the last 2 world cups), before playing Portugal 6 days later. Klinsmann will then be hoping his team still have something to play for when they face their toughest test (and Jurgens old team), Germany, in the sweltering Recife heat of a 1pm kick off on the 26th June.

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Ghana
Overview
This will be Ghana’s 3rd consecutive appearance in the World Cup and they will be hoping to improve on 2010’s quarter final exit to ‘the hand of Suarez’.
Qualification was a breeze for the Black Stars and confidence will be high after dominating victories against Egypt, Zambia, Sudan and the mighty Lesotho (it’s a real country, honest!). Despite losing their last friendly match against Montenegro, Ghana will be hopeful of progressing through a pretty competitive group.

Fantasy player perspective
With the attacking heavyweights of Germany and Portugal in their group, I suggest you might want to avoid picking any Ghana defenders. The 6-1 demolition of Egypt in the qualifiers proves they know where the goal is, and the main man on scoring duties is undoubtedly Asamoah Gyan (6 goals in qualifying and 4 in the last World cup). From midfield, both Muntari and Waris have been known to chip in with a goal or two.

Fixtures
Ghana begin their campaign with an evening kick off against their regular World cup whipping boys, USA. This is a match they will be desperate to win given it’s after that their tournament really hots up. A late afternoon kick off against group favourites Germany is followed 5 days later with an “inhumane” 1pm kick off against their fellow sun lovers Portugal.

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Portugal
Overview
Portugal’s success in major tournaments is tricky to predict (other than that they will start well and eventually be knocked out by Spain). They have a good record of getting through tough groups (recent opponents including Brazil, Ivory Coast, Germany and Netherlands) so this year’s World cup opponents will not faze them. Qualifying was a bit of a struggle though. They needed a playoff win against Sweden to see them through to Brazil after finishing second to Russia in the group phase.

Fantasy player perspective
3 goals conceded in 2 games against Northern Ireland probably tells you all you need to know about the Portugal defence. Bruno Alves did manage 4 goals from defence in qualifying though, so might be a decent option even without much clean sheet potential.
In Midfield, Joao Moutinho notched up 9 assists in qualifying (the most of all European teams).
Up front Portugal will probably turn to Postiga (6 goals in 10 qualifying games, but no real club form), and Almeida (a 1 goal in 3 man over 90 games for Besiktas). And that’s about it.
No, wait, who’s that ‘Ronaldo’ fella? Yep, get him too. He looks decent.

Fixtures
Portugal start with a tricky (and hot) 1pm kick-off against Germany. (Their previous encounter WC2010 ended in a tight 1-0 German win. Expect another close one.) Things get slightly easier for Ronaldo and Co. in their next game as they take on USA in the cooler evening kick off time slot, before finishing up with what could be a ‘battle for 2nd place’ decider vs Ghana. (A potential rematch with Russia awaits in the second round).

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Germany
Overview
What is there to say about Ze Germans: The group favourites. Undefeated and highest European scorers in qualifying. Ranked 2nd in the world. A fantastic tournament pedigree (3 time World cup winners. 4 times runner up). 3rd place in each of the last 2 World cups and Semi finalists in Euro 2012. A squad full of world class players. What could possibly go wrong? (Well, other than heat stroke from having no evening kick offs and playing their games at lunchtime in the hottest parts of the country)

Fantasy player perspective
Ignoring the 7 goals conceded in 2 qualifying games against Sweden, Germany actually have a decent defence. Manuel Neuer (CS), Philipp Lahm (CS and assists) and Arsenals Per Mertesacker (CS and goals from set pieces.) all offer some big point potential.
It’s in Midfield and attack where Germany are really spoilt for choice. If you’re a gambler, maybe look at the likes of Draxlar, Goetze and Shurrle. All world class and capable of big points if given the chance, but could just as likely start games on the bench.
The safer options are Reus (Top scoring midflelder in the Bundesliga and 2nd highest scorer for Germany in the qualifiers), Thomas Muller (Golden Boot winner at the 2010 finals; played in all of the qualifiers and got the most assists) and Ozil (Played in all of the qualifiers and got the most goals, and has the added bonus of 360 degree vision due to strategic eye placement).

Fixtures
Germany will expect to win all 3 of their games and certainly have the squad to pull it off. However, they definitely have the toughest fixtures in the group in terms of location and kick off times. (Did someone say conspiracy?) Germany starts with a 1 o’clock match up in the hottest part of the day against their trickiest opponents Portugal, followed by a slightly more bearable 4 o’clock start against Ghana. They then face USA (in potentially a dead rubber if Germany has 2 wins and USA have nil points) in another 1 o’clock start in their final group game. Or will it be the match that decides the group winner?! (Come on USA, I believe in you!!)

Thanks for reading Fantasy World Cup Preview Group G this article was written by chins and bellies